Most individuals carry some kind of wallet or the like as a convenient means for organizing and holding all manner of credit cards, driving licenses, membership cards, and the like. Typically, these wallets have slots for conveniently receiving and holding the credit cards, driving licenses, etc. for ready access. These slots may be offset from one another such that a portion of each card is viewable as a cue for the owner to properly select the correct card as its use is required. For the majority of the male population, these wallets are typically carried in a hip pocket so that the thickness of the wallet is a dimension of some importance in considering the convenience, ease, and comfort of carrying the wallet. In present day times, it is not uncommon for an individual to have five or more credit cards, a driving license, airline travel card, book club card, and other various cards totally 10, 12, or even more desired to be carried and readily accessible for use. Thus, the ability to carry, organize, and gain ready access to particular cards is a matter of some importance for most people.
Of all of the cards typically carried today, perhaps a user""s motor vehicle license or xe2x80x9cdrivers licensexe2x80x9d is the single card most often accessed and required to be removed from the wallet. Such access is required in many instances including particularly when a user""s identity is desired to be established for check cashing, credit card use, hotel and airline check-in, and even under those unfortunate circumstances when a user is questioned by authorities such as police officers. For this reason, many wallets provide a special compartment for placing and carrying a drivers motor vehicle license. This specialized compartment is generally located in a separate location from the other credit cards and has a glassine or transparent cover over it through which the face of the drivers license may be viewed as it remains in the wallet. However, this glassine material is subject to xe2x80x9cscuffingxe2x80x9d or other wearing and even abuse which renders it problematic for clear viewing of the drivers license stored beneath it. Furthermore, the inquiring individual may ask that it be removed from the wallet, or the user may desire not to hand over his entire wallet containing other credit cards and perhaps even cash under those circumstances. Therefore, it is not uncommon for many people to experience multiple occasions for use of their drivers license requiring its removal from the wallet and replacement back into the wallet in its appropriate slot.
Continued access, removal and reinsertion of a drivers license in and out of a wallet can be inconvenient at least, and perhaps even result in undesired wear and tear. Generally, most states drivers licenses are ruggedized to some extent, but are still rather flexible, xe2x80x9ccard likexe2x80x9d material and not comprised of sturdy molded plastic as is the typical credit card. Furthermore, for security purposes, the specialized slots in most wallets is sized to securely hold the license there within so that the license card slot may be deeper than the card, thereby allowing the card to sink into the slot, and below the upper edge of the slot, making it in some cases much more difficult than could be expected for grasping the upper edge of the card and removing it from the slot. In those circumstances where an individual is confronted with an emotional situation, this can result in undesired fumbling in an effort to remove the card, making the user nervous and undoubtedly conveying an impression unintended and undesired to be conveyed by the user at that time.
The inventor herein is aware of luggage identification card holders and the like which provide a blank of no particularly standardized size for a user to write in his name and address with a carrying case and attachment for securing the luggage tag to the luggage. In many instances, these luggage tags are sized to accept a standard business card and may even have a glassine panel overlying the business card to protect it as luggage experiences extreme abuse during handling, especially by the airlines. While these luggage identification card holders do serve a valuable purpose, they are generally bulky and ruggedized to stand up under the extreme conditions they encounter as they are exposed to the elements and direct handling by baggage clerks and the like.
In order to solve these problems in the prior art, and to provide a means for protecting, storing, and readily accessing a drivers license or other desired card within a wallet, the inventor herein has succeeded in designing and developing a specially adapted sleeve for receiving and holding a drivers license or the like with the sleeve being relatively thin and sized to be not much larger than the drivers license itself. This sleeve includes an edge channel surrounding three sides of the generally rectangularly shaped sleeve with the edged channel itself being relatively thin and spaced close to the underlying flat panel surface such that it remains relatively thin as would be desired for a user""s wallet. The drivers license may thus be readily inserted by placing its edges to line up with the slots defined between the edge channels and the underlying flat panel and slid thereinto to overlie the flat panel. As the drivers license sits within the sleeve, the upper surface of the license is exposed and remains uncovered for ready access and clear viewing thereof within the sleeve. Along the edge of the sleeve which does not have a peripheral edge channel, a tab or xe2x80x9cfinger grabxe2x80x9d is formed integrally with the flat panel surface and may have a number of textured ribs as an aid for a user to simply grab the sleeve and withdraw it from within the wallet slot. Thus, during use, a user may simply place his license permanently within the sleeve, place the sleeve within the wallet slot, and be able to identify the drivers license by the tab as well as remove it conveniently from the wallet slot with the same tab when access to the drivers license is desired. As there is no glassine or other protecting covering over the drivers license, it may be readily viewed directly by those individuals desiring to inspect it such that it is anticipated that most will not require the drivers license to be removed from the sleeve. This should substantially decrease the amount of wear and tear experienced by a drivers license as it is the sleeve itself which experiences the wear and tear of insertion and removal from within the wallet slot. Furthermore, as the front surface of the drivers license is exposed, a user may readily remove it from within the sleeve by merely pressing his fingers against the drivers license and pushing it out of the slots formed by the edge channels as an edge channel is held.
In order to accommodate wallet slots providing access either along their top or side, the wallet identification card sleeve of the present invention is provided in either of two embodiments, one having its open edge and finger grab along an upper, longer edge and the other having its open edge and finger grab along a side or shorter edge.
While the principal advantages and features of the present invention have been briefly described above, a fuller understanding of the invention may be attained by referring to the drawings and description of the preferred embodiment which follows.